KING.--Hand me the paper. [_Vetravatí delivers it_.
KING [_reading_].--What have we here? "A merchant named Dhanamitra, trading by sea, was lost in a late shipwreck. Though a wealthy trader, he was childless; and the whole of his immense property becomes by law forfeited to the King." So writes the minister. Alas! alas! for his childlessness. But surely, if he was wealthy, he must have had many wives. Let an inquiry be made whether any one of them is expecting to give birth to a child.
VETRAVATÍ.--They say that his wife, the daughter of the foreman of a guild belonging to Ayodhyá, has just completed the ceremonies usual upon such expectations.
KING.--The unborn child has a title to his father's property. Such is my decree. Go, bid my minister proclaim it so.
VETRAVATÍ.--I am at your Majesty's service.
KING.--Let there be no question whether he may or may not have left offspring; Rather be it proclaimed that whosoe'er Of King Dushyanta's subjects be bereaved Of any loved relation, an it be not That his estates are forfeited for crimes, Dushyanta will himself to them supply That kinsman's place in tenderest affection.
[_Exit Vetravatí, and reënter after an interval_.
VETRAVATÍ.--Your Majesty's proclamation was received with acclamations of joy, like grateful rain at the right season.
KING [_drawing a deep sigh_].--So then, the property of rich men, who have no lineal descendants, passes over to a stranger at their decease. And such, alas! must be the fate of the fortunes of the race of Puru at my death; even as when fertile soil is sown with seed at the wrong season.
KING.--Fool that I was to reject such happiness when it offered itself for my acceptance!
SÁNUMATÍ [_aside_].--He may well blame his own folly when he calls to mind his treatment of my beloved Sakoontalá.
KING.--Ah! woe is me? when I forsook my wife-- My lawful wife--concealed within her breast There lay my second self, a child unborn, Hope of my race, e'en as the choicest fruit Lies hidden in the bosom of the earth.
SÁNUMATÍ [_aside_].--There is no fear of your race being cut off for want of a son.
CHATURIKÁ [_aside to Vetravatí_].--The affair of the merchant's death has quite upset our royal master, and caused him sad distress. Had you not better fetch the worthy Máthavya from the Palace of Clouds to comfort him?